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Tasered Brazilian student had 'brilliant future'

Rachel Olding and Glenda Kwek

Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti (pictured with a friend) died after being tasered by police in Sydney on Sunday.

LESS than 12 hours before he was tasered in Sydney by police and killed, the young Brazilian man scored a goal for his football team.

The all-ages Balmain & District premier league team lost, but Roberto Laudisio Curti hit the town to celebrate.

The picture that has emerged from the 21-year-old's teammates of a happy, healthy, football-mad student is at odds with the incoherent, shirtless, screaming offender shot by at least three police officers with Taser guns on Sunday morning following a robbery at a nearby convenience store.

Roberto Laudisio Curti.

''He trained hard, he worked hard, he had fantastic skills and he was very attentive and committed,'' said his coach and teammate Frank Polistina. ''He was just a great player and a great guy.''

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As the Brazilian government demanded answers from police yesterday, Mr Laudisio Curti's wealthy family indicated they would eschew consular help and mobilise themselves for a potential lawsuit. Mr Laudisio Curti's uncle and guardian, Joao Eduardo Laudisio, the Brazilian head of a multibillion-dollar global manufacturing company, Pall Corporation, is expected to fly to Sydney from Sao Paulo.

His older sister, Ana Luisa Laudisio, who lives with her Australian husband in the Sydney suburb of Balmain, is understood to be canvassing legal representation and has asked for her brother's body to be returned to Brazil.

Mr Laudisio Curti's godmother, Patricia Laudisio, said the young orphan, who was studying English in Sydney and living with his sister, was a victim of a crime. ''They took the life of a person who had a brilliant future ahead of him,'' she told Brazilian press.

NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher met with consular officials yesterday afternoon to assure them an independent and thorough investigation by the NSW Ombudsman and homicide squad would take place but Andre Costa, the Brazilian consul, said he was still ''anxious''.

''He was a very easygoing, polite, well-raised young man so that doesn't go well with the idea he did a bad thing,'' he said. ''It's a hard story to buy.''

The Brazilian government said it ''deplored'' the death of a citizen in unknown circumstances and had instructed the consulate-general to obtain the ''appropriate clarifications relating to the incident'' from police.

After the friendly football match against Dobroyd at Wentworth Park on Saturday afternoon, Mr Laudisio went to Kings Cross to have a ''few drinks'', said Luana Torres, a lawyer advising the consulate.

He left on his own to go home but was in ''good shape'' according to friends, said Mr Costa. About 5.30 the next morning, Mr Laudisio Curti, who had broken English, was allegedly chased down and tasered multiple times by police when he resisted arrest, screaming ''Help me''.

About half an hour earlier he allegedly entered a convenience store, where witnesses said he was ''frothing at the mouth'' and speaking little sense.

His death has sparked an international row and a protest has been planned in Sao Paulo. Mr Laudisio Curti's favourite football team, Palmeiras, may wear black armbands on Sunday.